


Let Sleeping Tigers Lie

by beluMM45



Category: One Piece
Genre: Gen, M/M, Started out about Law sleeping for once and became this
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-09
Updated: 2015-01-09
Packaged: 2018-03-06 19:52:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,885
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3146561
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/beluMM45/pseuds/beluMM45
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ever since the events of Dressrosa, Law’s found that napping (and sleeping in general) is much easier than before. Much, much easier.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Let Sleeping Tigers Lie

**Author's Note:**

> Occurs post-Dressrosa (so I took some liberties with what may have happened afterwards). Will contain spoilers for recent events in the manga (that the anime hasn't gotten to either).

“Traffy.” A nudge.

“Traffy.” This time the syllables are drawn out. A pinpoint pressure against his cheek. He groans unhappily and tries to raise up his arm to smack whoever’s doing that. His arm makes it up a few inches off the bed before gravity does the rest and his arm flops back down against the blanket.

Wow, he’s never realized how difficult waking up can be.

“Traffy, you’ve been asleep for _hours_ ,” a voice whines almost right at his ear. A huff of breath (Law notes, absentmindedly, that it smells faintly like meat and onions) against the side of his face and the bed creaks under his weight. Law sighs, slowly, slowly sinking back into the abyss of sleep, his body getting heavier and it’s such a heavenly feeling he’s not sure why he never appreciated it before.

That nice, sinking feeling evaporates instantaneously a split-second later when a large projectile slams right onto his side. His good mood evaporates right with it.

Bouncing up once and falling back, sprawled over the blankets, he blinks awake. The last vestiges of sleep are still clinging to the edges of his consciousness and he feels like an old computer trying to re-boot itself. Luffy’s face inches its way into his peripheral vision, grinning down at him, obviously pleased with himself if the shit-eating grin is anything to go by. He makes sure to throw his darkest, sternest glare.

“You finally awake, Traffy?” Luffy asks and he looks like he’s doing his utmost best to stay still. Law blinks back stonily. As expected, Luffy jumps back, out of his line of sight, the bed creaking and groaning and after, the sound of feet slapping against metal flooring. Law huffs and finally, strenuously, heaves himself up into a sitting position with one arm. Half-way up he realizes sitting up fully requires way too much energy and compromises by half-sitting, half-lying back against the pillows, hands on his lap over the blankets and leans his head back until it knocks against the back wall.

“You’ve been asleep for _forever_ ,” Luffy says, rambling off in some corner of the room. “We haven’t even hung out with all the crew since we landed on Zou. And I hate being on your ship for too long. I also wanna play with Bear! I didn’t get to when we were on Hancock’s island and you still have to tell me where you found him!”

Law let’s Luffy’s voice wash over him, still feeling the slight numbness of a nice, deep sleep. His body temperature is still a bit higher than usual after waking up so soon. The warmth of the room doesn’t help, but at least his blankets are pretty thin. He makes a mental note to find some comfortable bedding though. Maybe something that breathes better, like cotton. But not like the cheap kind. No, he’s going get the kind that gets cool easily. In a submarine that heats up whenever they’re underwater (and they’re underwater often), getting thick blankets is out of the question. And scratchy or rough blankets are a waste of money. He shifts under the blankets and sighs happily when he finds a cool spot. His breathing starts to even out.

He must have dozed off again because he gets abruptly woken up again when something smacks right into his stomach. He gasps, surprised (and a bit pained, though he won’t admit that out loud) and jumps up, body heavy. Something rolls off him and onto a pillow. He looks down. It’s triangular-shaped, rounded at the edges. He picks it up and inspects it. A rice ball.

“You fell asleep again,” Luffy huffs. Law turns toward him, standing right by his bed, arms crossed and a pout on his face. It’s pretty adorable.

“I did?” He asks stupidly, voice hoarse than usual. He frowns, scratching the side of his head. He glances at the rice ball again and his stomach makes a belated, grumbling noise.

“How long have I been out,” he asks as he slowly starts to unwrap the rice ball, his movements more sluggish at first until his dexterity starts to return, albeit very slowly. He sniffs it first. Sea King fish with some mayo. He grins. Must be Sanji.

“You better be grateful,” Luffy booms. He plops onto the bed, right over Law’s legs and Law kicks his legs a bit until he manages to shift Luffy a little off to the side. Luffy bounces on the bed, getting comfortable and crosses his legs underneath him.

“I was totally going to eat that, but I saved it for you because you’re my friend and we did that thing with our lips.”

“You mean kissing? It was only once,” Law says around a perfect mouthful of rice and Sea King meat. It’s eel too. That man’s amazing.

Luffy nods emphatically, managing to keep the petulant look on his face. The kiss. God, Law’s not even sure how _that_ happened. It happened right after Dressrosa, while they were heading toward Zou and he was recovering on the cot in the infirmary. He isn’t even all that sure why he instigated it either. His body stiffens instantly, not looking at Luffy’s face and waiting for Luffy to give him the third degree.

“So you better be grateful, Traffy.” Law sighs an internal breath of relief.

Luffy nods to himself and Law’s not quick enough to stuff down the smile that comes to his face. It’s almost reflexive. Maybe he’s out of touch. It’s okay to slip up and smile once in a while around Luffy, though, he hardly makes anything out of it. If anything, it works in his favor more often than not. But actually smiling and shit around his _crew_ , around _Luffy’s crew_. He almost physically shudders at the thought.

Instead he offers the rest of the rice ball and Luffy doesn’t instantly shovel it into his mouth (which Law takes as Luffy’s form of consideration). Luffy grins at him after gulping it down, wide and bright.

“Okay! I like you again, let’s go play!” Luffy exclaims, diving towards him and wrapping his rubber arms around him like a clingy octopus. Law doesn’t bother trying to get out of Luffy’s hold. He turns his head and comes face-to-face with Luffy.

“Play?” Law murmurs. He glances back down at the bed. If he shifts his legs, the blanket slides a little and yeah, definitely, Law’s going to get some better quality blankets. If only the sub didn’t get so warm. He’d love to get some thicker blankets. Oh, maybe even a down comforter.

“No more sleeping!” Luffy says, practically in his face and Law draws back before his eardrums get damaged.

“What do you--,” Law starts but Luffy’s started to shake his head furiously. He unravels his arms around Law and Law rocks back and forth as Luffy unwinds.

“All you’ve been doing is sleeping. I thought once the stuff with the big pink bird was done we’d have fun together. But now we’re at Zou and me and my crew’s only here for one more day and all you’ve been doing is sleeping.” Luffy huffs, a short breath of anger, and Law’s caught off balance by the glare he’s leveling at him. It’s strange to realize, but Luffy’s never actually glared at him, never really caught his direct ire before, for all that they’re supposed to be enemies. Law tries to calm him down but Luffy, of course, bull dozes right over him.

“Talking Bear and me ran around Zou twice when you went to sleep again today. Those two hat guys went fishing with me and Usopp and we caught that Sea King you just ate. I’ve been hanging out with everyone but you,” Luffy says, and he’s quiet for a while so Law supposes he’s done talking. However, Law’s not sure how to approach the situation.

He guesses he has been sleeping more. Then again, anything more than two hours (and that’s being generous) of sleep is unusual for him. Honestly though, it may have been the battle or it maybe have been the emotional exhaustion during the entire events of Dressrosa (and wrangling the Straw Hat Pirates in some kind of formation that wouldn’t get them killed), but he’s never been able to go to sleep so fast or stay asleep so long. He falls back until his back hits the wall and sighs.

“What do you want me to do?” Law finally answers. He looks back at Luffy.

“I haven’t… I don’t really-” Law stops, clears his throat. He smooths out a part of the blanket, his hand moving over the wrinkles. “It’s not that I want to sleep. I don’t even sleep that often, or well, not as often as I have been apparently.

“I think I only slept maybe three times a week, if at all,” he says quickly, a short huff of laughter and he pauses, trying to organize is mind and figure out what exactly he’s trying to say. He wants to look at Luffy but his eyes stay adamantly on the blanket, at it’s cold navy color, the fibers rough against his hand.

“After… that, it’s like…” his brows furrow, wracking his brain for the word he needs. He’s surprised Luffy’s been quiet for so long. Then he mentally smacks himself because Luffy’s… socially graceless and raucous, but one thing he’s learned about him since they started on this crazy, messed up adventure is that Luffy’s always respectful towards his friends. He’s never more still than when he’s quietly, happily observing his crew.

“Like it’s okay to sleep,” Law finally says and the words feel like heavy boulders forced out of his mouth. “It’s never been like that before. I feel-”

Law runs his hand through his hair and unconsciously grits his teeth. He’s really not good at this. For a long time, not since that cold day on Minion (and not even before then, if he’s being truthful to himself), he hasn’t ever excluded time to actually rationalize his feelings- much less randomly muse on them. Now here he is, struggling to figure out how to explain himself. He’s never been so unprepared (well, except in Dressrosa). The long nights of being able to finally sleep, the desire to actually go to sleep, even the horrific images that usual spring him awake are few and far between.

“I get it,” Luffy states. Law looks up and the guy’s smiling. Instinctively, he thinks Luffy’s belittling his turmoil. Then mentally smacks himself again. Luffy crawls over to him, shifting and bouncing around until he finally finds a position he likes right next to Law with his legs once more crossed underneath him. His straw hat gets squished a little when he leans back against the headboard, mimicking Law’s own position. He turns to him and his smile is warm and stretched bigger than what non-rubber humans can accomplish.

“When Ace died, I couldn’t sleep much either, even though I was with Rayleigh and we were doing super cool training. But it was okay since were were on that island with the huge animals. I couldn’t sleep much anyways,” Luffy says, his eyes staring off in the general direction of the ceiling.

“Being back with my crew really is the best though. The first night I slept the whole way through. When you’re asleep, anyone can attack you, I guess? Zoro sleeps all the time, even through storms and stuff, but maybe that’s just ‘cause he’s super strong. And I’m really strong so I can sleep anytime, except….,” Luffy trails off, eyes moving down to his lap for a quiet moment. Law wants to do something, uncomfortable with Luffy’s uncommon melancholy. Before he can do much more than clear his throat, Luffy’s shaking his head like a wet dog and he finally looks directly at Law. “But I can sleep no problem now. And you’re really strong too, and you always have your crew, so it’s okay to go to sleep, Traffy.”

It’s unnerving how determined he looks. In Dressrosa, it’s the same expression he’d had when he’d thrown him (and Zoro) over the side of the castle, or when he’d finally, seriously went after Doflamingo with him. Suffice to say, Law’s a bit apprehensive with being confronted with the expression again in his room, on his ship.

“Especially after a battle, I sleep for so long! Nami says I even eat while I’m sleeping! But you slept _way_ longer than me. Everyone was talking about it,” Luffy exclaims, followed by his distinctive chuckle (“Shi shi shi”). “Bear kept standing around your door and asking about you.”

Bear, Law wonders, then figures Luffy’s been referring to Bepo.

“Bepo,” he corrects him because he knows Bepo won’t correct Luffy himself, at least not self-assuredly.

“Yeah Bepo,” Luffy says, bouncing back on the bed and snuggling comfortably into the pillows and blankets, eyes closing. Law stares down at Luffy for so long he might as well be trying to read foreign markings on his face. There’s no other way to describe Luffy at this moment other than peaceful. And for all his ramblings, some of the things he said, well, they didn’t not make sense. Truthfully, as truthfully as he’ll ever be, he hasn’t slept so well since Corazon. He chuckles, softly. Maybe he needs Cora’s calming power to sleep now, like a drug. But the reminder, even just a moment, beings forth a dull pain, something he thought was long gone. Maybe it’s just been scabbed over, never healed and never cared for properly. He lifts up the blankets with his right arm, still slightly numb. His eyes glance over Chopper’s stitching (not as well as he could have done but acceptable), a little jagged against his healing skin.

His hand goes right over the stitching that’s wound completely around his arm. The stitches are coarse under his fingertips. He rubs his thumb gently against one of the stitches and a brief flash of pain has him retreating from the wound. It’ll heal one day, scab over and, ultimately, only scar tissue will be left.

Slowly, he sinks back down into the blankets. He’s starting to feel the lofty sensation of sleep once again at the edges of his consciousness. Perhaps whatever pain relieving medications they’d given him are still in his system.

Or maybe Luffy is more perceptive than he, or anyone else, thinks.

His eyes close without him realizing for a moment, hazy with sleep and starting to drift off. He can sense Luffy moving again. It was too much to expect Luffy to stay still for so long when he was bursting with energy earlier. Expecting him to shake him awake or something, he’s a bit blindsided by what he actually does.

“Traffy,” he whispers near his ear. Law smiles, not a conscious action but he doesn’t try to hide or cover up the expression. He just let’s it drift onto his face. Luffy starts to say something, but it’s cut off by a quick breathy laugh. The smile on Law’s face turns up at one corner. “Hope you liked the Sea King meat because it was nice to _meat_ you.”

Law’s up and walloping Luffy with a pillow using his good arm, but Luffy’s still laughing maniacally and holding his stomach.

“That was good, admit it!” Luffy says through peals of laughter.

“You’re the worst, Straw Hat,” Law says, finally sitting back, pulling the pillow over his lap and trying to push away the persistent smile on his face. It’s weird, he realizes a moment later while Luffy’s catching his breath, sprawled over the bed, that this is the first time in days that he’s called Luffy by his previous moniker. He looks over toward Luffy, who’s face is almost completely covered by his grin. His head pops up, looking back at Law.

“The guy with the Penguin hat told me to say that. He said you’d _love_ it.”

“I’ll kill him later,” Law says. He burrows back into the blankets again.

“For now though, I’m going to get another hour of sleep before I have to face the unholy combination of both our crews,” Law mutters, eyes already closing and he’s not sure he’ll ever get over how easy falling sleep can be. He stretches an arm out tentatively and, not opening his eyes, says, “You can join me if you want.”

Luffy’s already diving into the spot, managing to, thankfully, not break Law’s arm in the process.

“And then we’ll play with Bepo?” Luffy asks, trying to get comfortable around Law’s arm and side.

Law flops his head back against the pillow.

“Yeah, whatever you want,” he answers and after a quick yelp of excitment, they’re quiet again, only the sound of the sub’s engine rumbling from beneath the floor.

Luffy will be leaving the next day, and he’s not sure if this period of easy sleep will still be there once he (and his crew) leave. Maybe his sleep is connected with the Straw Hats in some way. Maybe it really is just post-battle exhaustion. Whatever the case, right now, he can feel Luffy’s warm breath huffing over his collarbone, evening out, and finally lets the slow calm of sleep wash over him.

**Author's Note:**

> Maybe should re-write the summary as: Law and Luffy talk a lot without really saying anything, in a room, on a yellow submarine ahaha (and Law mourns his really shitty luck- maybe you shouldn't be carrying a cursed sword then, huh- I love him, I do).
> 
> Reviews will be appreciated and cuddled mercilessly and any desires to rant about Law or One Piece or what have you will be very much welcomed. 
> 
> Thank you for reading!


End file.
